Inside the Henri Pittier National Park, we stayed in the town of Puerto Colombia. Puerto Colombia is where most of the accomodation and action can be found in this area. The lifeblood of Puerto Colombia is the malecon, where the fishing boats dock. People congregate here at night and on weekends one can supposedly see tambores, which is a coastal tradition of of African drum-playing, singing and dancing.

Puerto Colombia’s beach, Playa Grande, is about 500 meters east of town and it can be quite picturesque with palm trees, aquamarine water and lush mountains in the background. However, I strongly suggest hiring a lancha at the malecon to take you down to Playa Chuao.

Arriving in Puerto Colombia as we did at night, it was hard not to be taken in with its charms:

And it’s acceptable in the daytime too:

Venezuela has a thing with wacky mannequins. Aside from this massively-endowed example, do you recall the creepy mannequin in Caracas?

Here’s a view of the town from the top of a nearby hill:

And here is a view of the bay in front of the town from atop the same hill:

There are so many fishing boats in the river that runs along Puerto Colombia, that it is possible to cross by simply walking across the boats:

As in Brazil, most of the fishermen bring their catches onto the beach at night: